Kenya Sevens continued to flirt with relegation from the World Rugby Sevens Series when they finished last after failing to win a a match at the Hong Kong Sevens II on Sunday.
For the first time since they became a core side in the Series in 2004, Kenya is on the brink of relegation and lie 13th with 30 points with three legs to go.
The next two legs in Singapore and Toulouse will be quite crucial for Kenya and anything less than a main Cup quarter-finals performances will see them slide to the relegation play-off, which will be a fierce battle.
The 15th placed team after the 10th and penultimate leg of the Series in Toulouse will be relegated while the 12th, 13th and 14 placed teams and the 2023 Challenger Series winner will engage in the relegation play-off during the 11th and last leg of the Series in London.
The relegation play-off will feature a round-robin format with the top two teams facing off in the grand finale. The winner will become the 12th team joining the other top 11 finishers during the 2022/2023 Series.
Kenya Sevens lost to Samoa 26-12 in the ninth place quarter-final before going down to hosts Hong Kong in the semi-finals for 13th place.
The fierce relegation battle is between Spain, who are now placed 11th with 40 points, 12th placed Uruguay (39), 13th placed Kenya (30) and 14th placed Canada (22).
Spain reached their first ever Cup quarter-final this season in Hong Kong where they lost to Argentina 19-0 in the fifth place semi-final to collect 10 points.
That saw them scale one places to 11th, swapping places with Uruguay, who collected five points from Hong Kong after losing to Ireland 31-7 in the ninth place semi-final.
As the relegation battle intensified, New Zealand All Blacks completed their season’s hat-trick when they beat Fiji 24-17 in the thrilling Cup final, their first win in Hong Kong since 2014.
All Blacks, who denied the two-time Olympic champions the first win of the season, stretched their Series lead to 142 points following their previous win in Sydney and Los Angeles.
France beat Great Britain 19-17 to claim bronze as Argentina finished fifth after edging out South Africa 7-5.
Hamilton and Vancouver champions Argentina stayed second with an improved tally of 121 points as Fiji, who reached their second Cup final after Hong Kong Sevens I, continued to scale up wards to third with 113 points, one better than France.
South Africa, Dubai Sevens winners, scaled three places to fifth with 101 points. The top four finishers will automatically qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Kenya will be hoping and praying that South Africa ends up in top four so as to avoid facing each other in the Africa qualifier for the 2024 Paris Games.
Kenya, the 2016 Singapore Sevens champions, will face France, United States of America and Uruguay in Pool “C” of the Singapore Sevens planned for this weekend.
New Zealand highlights Pool “A” that also has South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong.
Fiji, Spain, Samoa and Canada will battle in Pool “B” while Pool “D” has Great Britain, Argentina, Ireland and Japan.
